Price per person

Day 1: Arrival in Ulaanbaatar(UB), a guided city sightseeing

Arrival in UB, the capital of Mongolia and transfer to a 4 star hotel in central UB. Afternoon guided city tour will introduce you to some of the highlights of the vibrant city: the Gandan Temple - city's main Buddhist center, the central city square with a grand statue of Genghis Khan and the Zaisan Memorial, an elevated hill on the city's edge providing a panoramic view of UB. A show of traditional music, throat singing and contortion will be followed by a welcome dinner. (D).

Day 2: Drive to Khogno Khan Mt.

After breakfast drive (5hr) to Mongol Els sand dunes - a spectacular area of steppes, sand dunes and granite mountains. The going is easy mostly on tarmac across wide open steppes with rolling hills in the background. After a lunch in a local visitor camp ride camels in dunes. Then make a short trip the ruins of a Buddhist monastery destroyed during internecine warfare in late 17th century. Dinner and overnight in traditional felt gers/yurts. Bathroom and shower facilities are in separate building. This afternoon you may as well visit a herdsman's ger and learn about traditions and chores of nomadic living. (B,L,D).

Day 3: Visit Karakorum and Erdene Zuu monastery, optional trips to other sites

2 hr driving to Karakorum, the medieval capital site of Genghis Khan. Presently there is a small town but the former capital still lies in ruins after being leveled by Chinese Min dynasty troops in 1380-ies. Today Karakorum is recognized by the massive walls of the Erdene Zuu monastery. It was built in the 16 century by a Mongol warlord in a hope to unify the nation under the banners of the "yellow" faith. The monastery has suffered a tremendous destruction during the anti-religion campaigns of 1930-ies with only a dozen temples surviving to these days. Visit the temples as well as few surviving artifacts of the old capital. You may as well walk the earthen hills that contain the city of Karakorum just outside of the monastery walls.

You may as well take an hour return trip to the granite obelisks of so-called Turkic empire that ruled vast lands from the Black sea to Manchuria between 6-8 century AD. The obelisk tells a story of the Turkic empire in 10000 runic characters a rare case of leaving written history by nomadic people. A 2hr return trip to the ruins of Uighur Empire capital, Khar-Balgas is also an option. Founded in 715 it was destroyed in 840 by nomadic people from Siberia. The huge walled compound of unbaked clay is now covered in earth and grass vaguely reminding of the former glory of Uigurs. Dinner and overnight in a local ger camp. (B,L,D).

Day 4: Head into Gobi desert

Leave the steppe behind and head (5hr) south into the desert area. As you move south the steppe turns saline and semi-arid, vegetation gradually thins out and less people come across our way. We may not encounter a human being for hundreds of miles, only endless bushy plains, camels and mirages. This is exactly where travelers say: This is middle of nowhere. Dinner and overnight upon arrival to a ger camp nestled by some weirdly shaped granite formations. (B,L,D).

Day 5: Drive to Khongoriin Els sand dunes

Drive (5hr) further south to the massif of the Arts Bogd range, its summit at 2,477m before arriving to a rock art gallery dated to the period between about 2000 BCE (Bronze Age) and 1000 BCE (early Iron Age). These are images of animal species, hunting scenes, humans riding and leading animals etc. Numerous ancient burial mounds are also scattered in the foothills. Accompanied by the guide take a relaxed climb to see the petroglyphs.

Past the Arts Bogd range the landscape is dominated by distant rugged chains of sun burnt mountains, dry salt pans and sandy depressions. This stretch of the way has the richest spectrum of colors. In early afternoon arrive to the Khongoriin Sand dunes, sometimes called by locals "the singing dunes". Dinner and overnight in a local ger camp. (B,L,D).

Day 6: Free day at Khongoriin Els dunes

The Singing dunes stretch for over 100km and reach 200 meters in height. They run parallel to the dark range of Sevrei Mt. A small oasis feeds a green meadow at the foothill of the massive dunes. Do the dunes really sing? Yes, they do; on a windy day a distant propeller hum is distinctly heard from the dunes. Fine sand is pushed up by the dominating NW winds on to the ridges. Gradually building up on crests it then collapses down the steeper slope producing the tremor of tons of sand rolling down. Today you may hike and climb the dunes. Riding 2 humped 'bactrian' camels is also an option. Sunsets are particularly beautiful for taking pictures here. Meals and overnight in the same camp. (B,L,D).

Day 7: Drive to the Flaming Red Cliffs

Back in vehicles and drive across vast arid plains to the Flaming Red Cliffs. The Flaming Red Cliffs is a paleontology site where the first ever dinosaur egg nests were discovered by Americans in 1920-ies. Walk the labyrinths of rock hard sand and make your own discovery. Then you may visit a saxaul forest lying nearby. Saxaul actually is a desert bush that grows to a height of 2 meters and is a valuable soil supporting agent although the most popular fuel of local herders. Continue to a local ger camp for dinner and overnight. (B,L,D).

Day 8: Day trip to “Eagle mouth” canyon

A day trip to another of the Gobi highlights, the “Eagle mouth” or Lammergeyer Gorge. Nestled between the beautiful peaks of the Three Beauties Mountains the gorge shelters a small "glacier" which remains frozen even on summer's hottest days. Wild Goats roam the steep cliffs. If very early spotting of the Wild Goats is guaranteed. At the entrance of the gorge is a small museum displaying samples of the area’s animal world. Back in the camp we relax and prepare for a return flight to UB next morning. (B,L,D).

Day 9: Return flight to Ulaanbaatar

After breakfast we will take one and half hour flight to Ulaanbaatar. The remainder of the day is at leisure to self-exploration of the city or shopping. Farewell dinner. (B,D).

Day 10: Leisure day in Ulaanbaatar

A spare day for shopping and self-exploration around the city. You may refer to recommendations of our team in order to make most out of it. (B).

Day 11: Departure

Transfer airport for your return flight home. (B).

SUZANNE and BEAT

Hi Batsuren,

As requested our short appreciation of our trip and your performance.

Excellent service and support. Batsuren provided us with all the necessary information to prepare for our one month trip and included wisely our requirements regarding sights to be visited in the program.

During the entire trip, the guide and our driver Balu were very informative, caring and discreet helpful.They were also very well prepared with the equipment, and the maintenance of the UAZ, over 4800km drive, was great.

Great Customer Service by Mongolia Expeditions & Tours!!!

With our very best regards and thanks,

Beat and Suzanne

JanEmblem_Belgium

From May 25th till June 6th, we made a tour through a part of Mongolia, south of Ulaan Batar.

We visited only a part of the country, but the visits to Baga gazar, Tsagaan Suvarga, Yoliin-Am, Khongor Sand dunes, Bayanzag, Ongi Monastery, Orkhon Valley, Karakorum and Hustai NP, were mind-blowing.

We had an excellent guide: Mrs. Uyanga Genendaram: she felt the perfect balance in steering the program and leaving space for indecent activities. Her English was outstanding. When one of the team-members got ill, she did whatever was necessary to movie care and medical assistance.

Our driver was Mr. Tseren: he knew all the roads like his own pocket and drove us Thousands of kilometers through the beautiful landscape of Mongolia: w never felt even one moment unsafe.

We choose for an alternating gas-camp and family stay which turned out to be a good choice since you get closer to the people's real life.

We can only recommend Mongolia Expeditions as a 5-star organization. The trip was worth every cent!

Related Tours

12 days jeep tour. Cross the Khangai mountain range and reach the Khuvsgul lake which is 267 meters deep and holds 2% of worlds fresh water reserves. On its shore lives a disappearing tribe of Tsaatan who still worship shamanism and live out of domes...

14 days jeep tour. From the capital of Genghis Khan, drive to unexplored corners of the Gobi desert, follow trails of dinosaur hunters. This remote and inaccessible area is home to wild asses, wild camels and desert gazelles and entertains visitors w...

13 day overland driving tour. The tour offers an exploration of what Mongolians call "Khangai", the land of forested mountains, clear lakes and streams. It is populated by nomadic herders whose way of life has changed little since many centuries. The...